As wonderful and as joyous as life can be, there are also times when heartache and heaviness sets in. This week was one such week.

My heart is hurting for a friend whose closest childhood friend has a little girl fighting for her life with cancer. Our family is praying fervently for our daughter’s former Sunday School teacher who has an 11 year-old daughter now battling a serious illness. Our hearts are heavy for our Pastor and his dear family as they laid his mom to rest yesterday. And we continue to deal with our own sadness as we watch my mom’s decline with the merciless disease of Alzheimer’s.

So many burdens. So many heartaches. So many broken dreams.

But it’s amazing how God will reach down and help us put things into perspective when we need it most.

This past week my daughter was relating to me that everyone in her Sunday School class had made a card for Pastor Jonathan. I couldn’t imagine what an eight year-old would write as words of sympathy, so I asked her about it. She quickly responded that she put a Bible verse in her card and then changed the subject. However, I immediately became even more curious and wondered what verse came to her little heart, so being the nosy mom that I am I continued my questioning. Then in her ever so matter-of-fact way she stated, “Well, obviously I put John 3:16.”

I smiled thinking that she probably used that verse because it was the one that she was most familiar with but something inside of me made me probe further. Upon doing so, she looked at me with a look like “Mom, don’t you get it?” and proceeded to tell me that she chose John 3:16 because she thought it would make Pastor Jonathan feel good to be reminded that his mom had everlasting life now and was doing great.

Wow. I have to admit I have never thought of using John 3:16 during a time of mourning but what an incredible verse it is to encourage our hearts that this life is only temporary and that is why Jesus came so that we could have our sins paid for and spend eternity in Heaven with Him when we die.

Suddenly, the suffocating grip of the concerns on my heart began to ease as I began to focus on this hope of eternal life.

I think it’s so easy to lose sight of eternity when we grovel through the hard times in this life, but that is when we need God’s promises the most. We need to cling to the fact that this is not our home. This is only temporary. Heaven is what is forever.

I once heard a powerful message by Francis Chan entitled “What Are You Living For?” In it, he used an illustration that I have never forgotten. He took a very large rope and with it outlined the edges of the entire auditorium. He showed the audience the very end of the rope which was spray painted red and explained that the inch of rope that was spray painted represented our life here on this earth while the rest of the rope that lined the auditorium represented all of eternity. He then concluded with the question—what are you living for? The temporal or the eternal? That which fades away or that which lasts forever?

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  2 Corinthians 4:18

I’m finding that this is such an important key to working through our pain because when we focus on the here and now it is absolutely devastating, but when we place all our hope in Jesus and know that our eternity is with Him we find the PEACE, COMFORT, and STRENGTH to carry on. Yes, we still hurt and we still face grief, but we do not grieve as those without hope (I Thessalonians 4:14b)—and what a difference hope makes.

I’m so thankful for the hope that Heaven holds. The Bible says in Revelation 21:4-5, 23-27 that in Heaven:

• There will be no more sickness.
• There will be no more death.
• There will be no more crying for He will wipe every tear from our eyes.
• There will be no more hunger or thirst. (Revelation 7:16)
• There will be no more evil.
• There will be no more night.
• We will be present with the Lord and will worship Him forever.

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. ~2 Corinthians 2:9

What a HOPE, what a PROMISE, what a FUTURE that we can cling to during the difficult moments here on this earth.

At the funeral service we attended yesterday, there was a song that the family chose that was most eloquently sung and is still echoing in my mind and ministering to my heart. I leave these words of hope with you and pray that it can be an encouragement to you today:

No More Night

The timeless theme, Earth and Heaven will pass away
It’s not a dream, God will make all things new that day
Gone is the curse from which I stumbled and fell
Evil is banished to eternal hell

No more night, no more pain
No more tears, never crying again
And praises to the great, “I AM”
We will live in the light of the risen Lamb

See all around, now the nations bow down to sing
The only sound is the praises to Christ, our King
Slowly the names from the book are read
I know the King, so there’s no need to dread

No more night, no more pain
No more tears, never crying again
And praises to the great, “I AM”
We will live in the light of the risen Lamb

See over there, there’s a mansion that’s prepared just for me
Where I will live with my Savior eternally

No more night, no more pain
No more tears, never crying again
And praises to the great, “I AM”
We will live in the light of the risen Lamb

All praises to the great, “I AM”
We’re gonna live in the light of the risen Lamb

by Walter S. Harrah